Keep eyes, ears open for big horn sheep in Indian Gorge

Indian Gorge

Before you go: Download a copy of the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park map from
parks.ca.gov/. The best hiking trail maps of Indian Gorge, Torote Canyon and that spur map into Palm Bowl are in both Jerry Schad’s “Afoot and Afield in San Diego County,” and the Lindsays’ “The Anza-Borrego Desert Region” books.

Trailhead: From Interstate 8 east, exit at Ocotillo and head north on S2. About 18.6 miles from I-8, at about the 46.1-mile marker, turn left (west) onto Indian Gorge’s dirt road. Unless you have a four-wheel-drive vehicle, you should park just off the road on hard-packed sand. The Torote Canyon trailhead is 1.8 miles from S2, on the right.

Distance: 4 to 8 miles round-trip.

Anza-Borrego State Park 
Indian Gorge in Anza-Borrego Desert State Park seems like one of the quietest places on the planet. Your footfalls on the sandy trail are about the only sound you’ll hear.

Occasional bird calls might break that silence. And if you’re really lucky, you might hear some rocks tumbling down the steep walls of the gorge itself.

That would be because you are in the company of big horn sheep, the namesake of Anza-Borrego, which is the combination of Anza, for Juan Bautista Anza, the Spanish explorer who forged a trail through here from Mexico to San Francisco in 1774, and borrego, the Spanish word for big horn sheep, according to Lowell and Diana Lindsay’s seminal book, “The Anza-Borrego Desert Region: A Guide to the State Park.”

In late December on that Indian Gorge trail, I encountered a couple hiking out when I was hiking in.

They had been seeking the sheep, too, since they had heard from fellow campers that a herd had been spotted here two days earlier.

As we looked around in our immediate area, by coincidence there were some hoof prints easily distinguished in that sandy soil. One of the hikers also said to scout the horizon of the gorge walls, because that’s where you tend to spot the sheep first as they make their way over the ridges.

“And listen for rocks falling,” he told me, because the sheep can’t help but displace them as they navigate the steep inclines.

He also pointed out to me a barrel cactus that had its top knocked off. A male big horn with his heavy set of curved horns will ram the top off barrel cactus to tear away the spines and reveal the soft, wet flesh that the herd enjoys.

I was unlucky that day and didn’t see any sheep.

The Indian Gorge dirt road that I was hiking leads to vast Indian Valley as well as two hiking-only trails: Torote Canyon and a spur trail to Palm Bowl, one of the palm groves also reached via Mountain Palm Springs just to the south of here.

If you’re in a four-wheel-drive vehicle, as the sign posted at the entrance to Indian Gorge urges, you may drive through the gorge and into Indian Valley, reaching those other two trailheads. The sandy road might seem easy even for regular passenger vehicles, but allow me to offer an anecdote.

Many years ago a friend and I drove this dirt road to reach that Palm Bowl trail. But shortly, we hit a rock, not realizing how bad it was until we’d gone those two miles and my small car’s oil light began flashing; we’d punctured the oil pan. Luckily, some other hikers gave us a ride back to Ocotillo where we could call for a tow.

The tow truck came, though the driver was extremely reluctant to go on this sandy dirt road at all. When he reached my car, we were able to load it onto his flat bed, but then the tow truck got absolutely stuck perpendicularly across the road. We tried to dig it out for a couple of hours, to no avail.

Then two separate caravans of hikers happened upon us from either direction, both unable to proceed since the truck was blocking the road. Some 16 men pushed that truck around on the road — now heading backward toward S2. My friend walked in front to guide the truck driver on his backward course. It was a very expensive towing and repair charge.

I never risk driving my car on these sandy desert roads anymore.

So I hiked in Indian Gorge just beyond that S2 entry. In 1.8 miles from S2, the Torote Canyon trail is on the right, marked with a wooden stake sign. I hiked up that narrow, rocky wash for another half-mile or so before turning around. Torote is the Spanish word for elephant tree, a relatively rare sight with its bulbous trunks and tiny paired fern-like leaves.

Back at the Indian Gorge road, I continued farther from Torote Canyon in search of that trail to Palm Bowl, which should be about 2 miles from S2 (only 0.2 miles from Torote Canyon trailhead), on the left. The Lindsays say a “small rock monument marks the beginning of this trail, which is at first very faint.” I missed it this time.

I kept hiking on the road until it forks, with the right turn heading into North Indian Valley and the left into South Indian Valley, marveling at the gray smoke trees, tall green desert willows and glowing jumping cholla cactus.

I turned back just beyond that fork and retraced my way to my safe and sound car.